Back-up Worthy Items

After being burned one too many times with discontinued or limited edition items that I LOVE, I decided to take matters into my own hands and purchased back-ups of certain products for insurance purposes. Here are some items I have unopened in my stash:Anna Sui Dolly Girl Lipstick in Natasha 003 – $25
I’ve already used up an entire tube of this – this is my second tube, plus I have another unopened one in my stash. It’s a gorgeous sheer coral shade with tiny shimmers that’s very hydrating. I use this as a tinted lip balm and it goes with any makeup I’m wearing. The pretty packaging and bullet design are just added bonus! This was a limited edition item from 2011.

Tokidoki Gelato Lip Balm Stain in Skeletrina – $9
I love lip tints that look scary dark in the tube but apply with just a hint of colour. When Sephora discontinued the Tokidoki line, I ran over to buy a back-up of this purple shade for $5 on clearance. It’s gives an amazing cool purple-y pink flush to the lips with a mild staining, and it smells like grapes!
It’s always risky buying back-up of lip products – that’s why I don’t have many. I hope these don’t turn before I get to them. I’ve put both of these in the fridge as recommended by fivezero!Maybelline Dream Matte powder – $15
I’m so annoyed that this is discontinued! And the replacement Dream Wonder powder is not nearly as good. I use this powder for a singular purpose: to dust along my lash line to prevent oiliness and transfer of mascara and liner. I’ve tried using other mattifying powders (Rimmel, Essence, MAC) but none have matched this! I have 3 unopened back-ups which will probably last me at least 10 years.Illamasqua blush in Naked Rose – $26
Not limited edition or discontinued but after the brand exited North America, it’s very difficult and expensive to get a hold of (side note, Illamasqua now ships worldwide but their pricing is ridiculous! The powder blush online converts to $42.95 CAD whereas I paid $26, not to mention shipping costs!) This shade is my favourite of all Illamasqua blushes – a neutral dusty rose with a matte finish that goes with just about any eye look. The quality is excellent as with all Illamasqua blushes I’ve tried. I will likely never ever finish up both the opened blush and the back-up.China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Fast Track – $10
I may not have discussed my love of shimmery nudes on here yet, but I am like moth to flame when I see a nudey shade with a refined shimmer, I MUST have it. This putty beige polish with gold shimmer works really well with my skin tone, but it was a limited edition from the Hunger Games collection. I found a bunch in a clearance bin for 50% off after paying full price for my first bottle – total score! I have 2 back-up bottles.Becca Nail Colour in Toasted Marshmallow – $6 ($15 reg)
This was a Winners find and Becca has discontinued all their nail polishes, unfortunately. The formula, colour and brush on this polish is superb. I tried to find a dupe for the colour (China Glaze Dress Me Up is pretty bang on) but the formulas and brush just were not the same. I ended up finding a seller on ebay so I hoarded bought 2 more bottles. I also took the opportunity to order a bunch of other Becca nail polish shades, which are sitting in my untrieds pile for now.Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Jo’Mina, Raindrops, and Facet – $17 each (but now $27.95 online!)
Jo’mina and Raindrops are part of the regular line-up of Illamasqua nail polishes but difficult for me to replace – both are extremely unique colours that I haven’t seen in other nail polish brands. Facet was limited edition from the Sacred Hour collection, and is my all time favourite nail polish shade from Illamasqua – a moody smokey taupe grey omg I just can’t even finish this sentence, it’s so amazing! I will be very sad when (if) I ever finish both bottles. I have absolutely no qualms about buying nail polish back-ups since they last a long time if stored in an air-tight container.Tony & Tina eyeliner brush
I may have bought the original brush at a clearance sale when the brand was being discontinued at Eatons, I’m not sure. But I do know that I got the back-up through a MakeupAlley swap ages ago. It was such a handy place for me to gain access to hard to find stuff or American brands not available in Canada. Then I found ebay. 😉 This brush has a very crisp edge with firm bristles that make it very easy to apply gel liner.Body Shop Kabuki brushes
I talked about these in my Beauty Tools Tag post – Body Shop still carries a version of the kabuki brushes but I prefer the originals that were branded under “Nature’s Minerals”. They were better quality (did not shed) and fuller. I picked up bunch ranging from $2-5 each from various places: Body Shop clearance section and online. I keep them in an acrylic tray I found from the kitchen section of Winners.Bourjois eye shadow brush
I found this off ebay and it is a decent dupe to my favourite shader brush from Club Monaco Beauty which I wrote about recently. Since they were only $5 each I bought the whole lot that the ebayer was selling – 5 brush in total; 2 are in use, and 3 are unused in my back-ups.Smashbox blush brush #16
Another Winners find – I bought one to try out and loved it so I went back to buy another. I had to hit up a few stores to find more – I bought 2 back-ups in total at $15 each. It’s a smaller blush brush with a flattened profile, making it perfect for using with blushes that have small pans, and for precise placements – I like this for medium pigment blushes. For some reason Smashbox discontinued this blush brush style and just offers a large face brush as both powder and blush brush.Anna Sui Brow blush brush, face brush, spoolie
Found these at Marshalls and scooped them up. Anna Sui brushes are a hidden gem – they’re fabulous quality in girly packages. They do have plastic handles which may make them seem cheap, but they’re not. The hairs are super soft, and well made with minimal shedding. Her spoolie is my favourite of all the ones I’ve tried – it’s fluffy and soft and combs out my brows without disturbing my foundation. The face brush is one that I recommend often to people who are looking for a contour brush – it’s fluffier, softer and more forgiving than the very blunt styles.

Products I wish I had purchased back-ups of – sometimes I just don’t realize how much I love something until it is too late:MAC blush in Prim & Proper from the Liberty of London collection – released in 2010, I grew to love this neutral nude-y blush more and more every time I wore it. It is, without a doubt, my favourite blush of all time! I will devote an entry on my quest in trying to find a dupe for this shade. Check out my post dedicated to this blush and its dupes.Lancome Khol in Love eyeliner pencil in Chocolate Affair – was a limited edition release in Spring of 2013. The formula is exquisite – gel-like smoothness and absolutely budge-proof once set. I am trying not to use it up too quickly. Check out my post dedicated to panning this eyeliner.Annabelle brow / liner angle brush A-14 – this is such an old brush but it is my favourite for my brows. It has a bit of a blunt edge that makes filling in my brows very easy. And I love how short the handle is so I can get really close to the mirror. I’ve tried in vain to find a dupe for this.

Well, that’s a glimpse into the collection of a makeup hoarder.
Or, as I like to call myself – a makeup enthusiast… Do you buy back-ups of makeup?

This is one of the more fun posts I’ve read in a while. It’s so interesting to see what products you have back ups of. I rarely purchase back ups myself. I occassional have a back up of my favorite foundation or something but colour cosmetics not so much. Is that strange? 🙂 xo

No, it’s not strange. I do buy back-ups of things I don’t want to run out – I see that as a subset of the “stash”, not so much to hoard stuff but to make sure there’s a seamless supply of your favourite products. I do that with foundations and concealers too. 🙂

I’m so upset the discontinued the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder too! Very smart of you to have bought so many back ups. I was so disappointed in the replacement powder Maybelline put out because I totally agree – not nearly as good. Great post!

That doll lipstick is too cute! I can’t decide how I feel about back ups for myself. I really like trying new things, even if I do love something. Although, I did just break a favorite polish this weekend that is discontinued and I’m sooooooooo disappointed. I thought we had more time together!!! *Wahhhhh* LOL 🙂 Great post, I loved seeing the things you love!

My bf asked to see that little acrylic tray full of kabuki brushes – he’s like, do you really need all those? Um, yeah. For when I die and get buried with my possessions in my tomb, hello!
Oh yes I have a few eye shadows back-ups too (Milani Java Bean!) but this post was getting way too long, lol. Which eye shadows / nail polishes have you backed up?

Hahaha! Imagine a tomb filled with old makeup stuff. 😀 Off the top of my head, I have backups for Stila Puck e/s, Jane Magical Mushroom e/s, OPI Double Decker Red n/p, and YSL In Love Again (in the original heart-shaped bottle) and Bvlgari Au Thé Rouge perfumes. I try not to backup too much, but it can be hard! (I also have accidental backups where I bought the same item twice, but that doesn’t count and I’m not talking about them. LOL)

Haha, I started my inventory spreadsheet for that same issue – too many nail polishes to keep track of (and I know I have a FRACTION of what you have!) because I kept gravitating toward the same damn shades of Essies every time. Now I want to know what shades you accidentally bought twice, lol.

My accidents are Essies, too! I accidentally bought two of Essie Go Overboard AT THE SAME TIME. Yes, I’m a moron. SDM was doing a BOGO and I thought I was getting Beach Bum Blu. Turns out someone put Go Overboard in the BBB slot and I didn’t check properly, grrr. I also bought Mint Candy Apple twice (duh), also at SDM. They won’t let you return np, even though I ran back the same day. I guess it isn’t sealed, so fair enough.

I bought Essie Parka Perfect twice but Winners let me return it.

Magical Mushroom is really nice. I should see if I have anything dupe-y! I wonder if Jane has re-done it since they relaunched.

That reminds me, I have Parka Perfect in my untrieds pile.
Yes, please, if you could find dupe, that would be wonderful! From what I’ve read online it’s a burnished brown with an olive shift. I’m trying to think of something but I’m stumped. I’ve seen online people compare this to Stila GoLightly… which is similar to UD Smog (which I do own but I see no olive in Smog – just a straight up bronze). I might have to go check Stila, if they still sell this shade!

Aww haha, I may have to take you up on your offer one day! I just got so sick and tired of running out of things I LOVED. Companies enjoy tormenting us when they discontinue products or make awesome limited edition items! 😛